Page 33 of Bound and Beguiled

“No.”

The immediate chorus of rejection almost made me grin, even as worry continued to stab at me. “But—”

“Kynan, I think our girl needs another spanking.”

∞∞∞

“Two Dwarven ales, one Salty Tear—with the wiggles—and a bottle of autumn mead, please.”

“Coming right up.”

I stretched my back, rotating my head on my shoulders and shifting from foot to foot as Sid’s tentacles flowed, assembling my table’s order. I hadn’t had a second to rest since I’d stepped out of Sid’s office, ass stinging from two sets of reprimanding smacks. With all the townies gone, I’d expected things to get mellower. Instead, the Riders had taken this opportunity to really let their hair down. The place was jumping.

I should be worn out and counting down the minutes until closing time. Instead, I felt like crawling out of my skin.

Sid poured a ladle of wiggles over the Salty Tear with a flourish, and I looked away. Bucks had cajoled me into trying a sip of their favorite cocktail a few days ago. The memory of tiny, bioluminescent jellyfish wiggling on my tongue still made me shudder. I should have known better than to take food advice from someone who was half octopus. I didn’t even like raw fish in my sushi.

My eyes fell on the wall of doors fronting the bar, every one closed tight for the first time in my memory. The edges of each door glowed slightly, warning of the strength of the wards that protected them.

The shaking sensation vibrating my bones shot up until I had to lock my knees to keep from bolting. After all, I didn’t have anywhere to run.

“Tereza?”

Sid’s concerned voice snapped me back to the here and now.Do your job, idiot.

“Sorry, woolgathering. Thanks!” I balanced the tray on my left hand with a breezy smile that felt like a grimace. At the other end of the bar, Kynan’s blackwater eyes stared at me with entirely too much knowing.

Not ready to deal with what those eyes demanded, I spun away, ducking my head, only to gape as my tray of drinks flipped into the air. Horror slowed the world, dragging my thoughtless blunder into an eternity. The prospect I’d run into, a smooth-talking blond Fae named Silk, gaped, frozen in place beneath the oncoming boozy deluge.

The expected crashing glass and splashing liquor didn’t come. Instead, the drinks righted themselves, flying away into the crowd without a drop spilled.

“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going. Did you—?” I squinted at Silk, who I could have sworn was as surprised by our impact as I’d been. But he wasn’t looking at me.

A hand—strong and familiar—clamped over the back of my neck. “Time for a break, Reza,” Kynan growled in my ear.

Dragging my feet accomplished exactly nothing. Kynan simply wrapped invisible hands around my waist and carried me along. Only when the door closed behind us and I was faced with the stairs that led to my loaned room and a sea of mysterious locked doors did I manage to find my words.

“Kynan! I’m not due for a break yet!”

“Hmph. You’re well overdue for a break.” There was a small landing before the stairs rose upwards, and he backed me against the wall there, arms braced on either side of me. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s got you jumpy as a rabbit.”

“Nothing! I’m fine.” I tried to duck beneath his arm, but he caught me with infuriating but annoyingly sexy ease, pressing me back against the wall.

“Don’t lie to me.”

I sucked in a breath and—scowling—refused to meet his eyes.

“Alright, Reza. We’ll play this your way.”

A spike of...something shot through me at the dark, velvety tone of his voice. Then I was spinning, falling, my knees and palms hitting the worn but clean wooden stairs.He pushed me!That bastard!

Wrenching my head around, I prepared to give him a piece of my mind, only to squeak as my cheek landed on the tread between my hands.

“Quiet,” Kynan barked. “You had your chance to talk. It’s my turn now.” His fist clenched in my hair, my scalp prickling at the pull even as he used his hold to press me more firmly to the stair.

“Let’s look at the facts, shall we?” Kynan’s clawed fingers caught the neckline of my tee shirt, ripping it clean down the middle in one sharp yank. “It can’t be worry that Franklin will come for you here.” Tsking, he traced the edge of my practical, pull-over bra. “You’re a smart woman. You have to know he wouldn’t have a chance.”

I bit my lip as my bra split under his claws, the rebounding fabric clinging to the tips of my nipples in a very distracting way. If my nipples weren’t hard as fucking diamonds, I wouldn’t be having this problem.

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